Footwear



March 5, 1929. P. M. MARSH Er AL 1,704,299

FOOTWEAR Filed March 15. 1928 rugmewm BY E161' IKI. Marsh.

Ir Klug ATTORNEYS,

-itl

Patented Mar. 5, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER M. MARSH, F SPRINGFIELD, AND EUGENE B. WARD, 0F MITTINEAGE MASSACHUSETTS.

FOOTWEAR.

Application led March 15, 1928. Serial No. $261,995.

This invention relates to improvements iu footwear and is directed more pal'ti -ula`i'ly to the provision of means for shaping the uppers at the heel port-ion of a shoe so that it will conform to and snugly embrace the heel of the wearer to prevent slipping.

As is Well known, the plies of material comprising the upper of a shoe have incorporated at the heel portion thereof a relatively u stiff member called a counter, the function of which is to stifl'en and hold the sides of the upper in an upright position and to prevent itsspreading or otherwise becoming out of shape. The counter merely supports the sides of the upper so as to stiften the struc ture, and gives to the heel portion its general shape only.

It has been attempted to shape the counter and consequently the upper at the heel so that they will fit snugly and embrace the heels of the wearer; but the shape and size of heels of persons who may Wear the same size shoe varies Within Wide limits-so that in the majority of cases the shoes slip at the heel. y

In an attempt to overcome this slipping, antislipping pads of rubber', fabric or the like have been affixed to the inner liner of the he'el of the shoe to fill up the space between the sides of the heel and shoe. These are far from being satisfactory because they Wear the heel of the stocking,.lose their anti-slipping characteristics, do not stay in place and soon deteriorate. At best these soallied fillers or anti-slipping devices are nothing more or less than a means of filling up the space and they are not int-ended to, and do notl in any Way, cause the shoe upper to properly embrace the heel of the foot, which obviously is the desirable way of preventing slipping. As a practical mattei', these fillers tend to cause the heel `portioi et' the shoe to bulge iu many eases.

As distinguished from the stiifeuing counter and illers`7 referred to, according to one novel feature of our invention we provide means in the nature of a former which is adapted to cause the upper at the heel portion of a shoe to bear against and conform to the shape of the heel so as to snugly embrace the heel and thereby obviate slipping of the shoe on the heel of the wearer. According to another novel feature of the invention, We provide means for the purpose described Which may be incorporated in the dii shoe at the time of manufacture so that it becomes a partof the shoe structure and cooperates therewith to provide a shoe which will lit the foot in the desired manner.

The novel features of the invention` are adapted for broad application but will in the form at present preferred be described in connection with a socal1ed low shoe, it being understood that the invention `may be changed or modified to adapt it for usein connection With other forms of foot Wear.

In the dra-Wings: i i

Fig. l is a side elevationalview of a low shoe having incorporatedtherein the novel features of the invention;

F ig. 2 is a perspective detailview of the former constituting part of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a similar View of a modified form of the invention; and i i Fig. 4 is a sectional elevational view` taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the invention will now be described.

A shoe is represented at S which has the usual sole l, heel 2 and upper 3, the latter being formedin the ordinary `manner `to have a heel embracing portion indicated at `4. It is customary to provide a stiHening member such asa counter C indicated by dotted lines `for holding or supporting the upper which, as in the case shown, terminates at a omt below the upper edge of the upper. T e upper usually comprises outer" and inner plies of material which enclose the counter so that the Walls ofthe shoe or upper above the counter, as at 6,- are pliable and free to bend or flex. The upper does not, in the ordinary case, snugl embrace the heel. If made to properly emgrace or fit heels of one size and shape, the Walls obviously would not tit heels of another size and shape equally well. lo cause the heel portion of the upper lo press against and snugly embrace heels of different sizes and shapes within a Wide range, wc provide a yieldahle or resilient spring-like former member M which is preferably incorporated in the shoe structure.

The former M may take various forms accordine to the type or style of shoe, and may be mat e of various materials such as wire, bone, Celluloid or the like, depending upon the type of shoe with which it is used.

According to the preferred form of the invention, the former M will take the form of a pair of spring-like members m which are pivoted together ne ut T eo ne te permite relative movement thereof. These may be held in place by being embrecefil in some manner bet-Ween the outer ply and the inner ply or liner ot the upper of the Shoe. It is usuel to turn. the upper edge of the outer ply inwardly into overlrippingW relation with the liner and the plies are usually secured together e5: by stitching indicated et ln euch :i cese the former member li'i nifiy be encloeed by the overlapped edge ot the outer ply, ne shown in Fig. e'. The members will pri-)terribly be held by lthe upper :so that they may move el .itly rele'iY Q loreto, whereby they will e ireeto bend or tiex end will not be reetrieted in their bending movements by the material. et the upper of th, Shoe, Tliet is to eey, the members should be free to slidv` beck and forth to seine extent with ree. ect

to the upper oiE the shoe :to enable them to be bent as may be desired Without wrinliling the material et the uppel fie they ueuld be in case they were fixed s u'ely to the Shoe upper.

1With the former incorpointed in the Shoe, after the manner described, the upper porA tiene G of the upper at' the heel may be en* gagged by the iingers so that the former nieinbere may be shaped to the contour or Shape of the SidesV of the heel and so ne to press toi 7erde one another. Then the fernr er is thus4 bent to the Shape desired7 the heel portion et the upper will be y'ieldingjiy pressed thereby against the Sides of the heel.

The former will hold the upper against er cauee it to snugly embrace the heel so that the tendency of the shoe to slip at the heel is obvizited.

In lieu of the articulated former inembere shown, it may be desired to provide :i terms' L may it may be desirable te provide :i subitizilly wide, tiet, spring-like former in preierenee to the 1rire i'iirmer ehewn and will depend, et course, upon the style of ehee :ind on the iinrterial of which i' mede. In any event, the former, distin u lehed troni n tiener, will be bendzible So that it be bent to the contour et the sides oit the heel :in-flyieldnble no :us to reuse the lexible portion ot the upper to yieldingly embrace the heel. 'llhne the upper i not only ssh ed to the heel7 but is preSeed thereiss to obriate the slipping tendency.

The torni of the invention Shown may be modified or changed to adapt the invention for various styles of shoes Without depart in .trom the spirit and scope et the inven- 'l'ieng and i prefer therefore to be lin'iited by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description.

.lllizit We claim ie:

A shoe coinprisinpr in combination, :i sub rigid counter :it the heel thereo for eti'ieningg the shoe :it the Sides rind buch oit the heel ,if the wearer, plies ot relatively ililiiible materiel et olipoeire Sides oi the counter in the torni ei en inner liner and en outer upper extending' above seid counter to priride pliable side end renil portions arbore Snid'rinid counter Whirh are adapted to be pressed :umh the heel of the wearer les and rear thereof et peinte above ter, and :i e, rrng-lilie tornier olf yieidzible n're associated With the pliable poi-tiene of ,mid liner and upper above fzid cennter which includes side members; dis

posed in :Seid pliable eide poiione end con l liable eide portions against the heel or the wearer, the seid former being;V hold by the upper so es to be movable witlrreepect there` to to permite relative movement of the eide members thereof.

ln teetiinony whereof We have :riixed our signatures.

EUGENE B. TARD PETER M. MARSH. 

